Judy: “She won on count back.” Me, nodding gravely: “I see.”
The fact is, I’ve been playing golf for five years and the famous “count back” was still a mystery to me. It’s a side of the game that I leave to more experienced players (like Judy), because I’m not great with numbers. Or anything that doesn’t involve hitting a ball, really. So I though I’d investigate, and it turns out it’s quite simple.
Count back is simple, honest
Count back for Stableford competitions
When the format is Stableford and you’ve played 18 holes, you total up the points of everyone sharing the tie over the last 9 holes of the event. If one player is ahead with the best score, they win. If several players are still tied, count the scores over the final six holes. Still no winner? Repeat the process over the last three holes. That’s still not enough? Resort to the last hole.
Still no winner? Things get creative. The winner is the best score on the most difficult hole (stroke index 1). If that still doesn’t work, add up the best scores across the three most difficult holes, then six, then nine.
Still no winner? It’s ok: at this stage, everyone is so fed up with counting that they will probably go home and vow never to play golf again.
Count back for stroke competitions
For a handicap stroke (medal) competition, things are a bit more complicated, as handicap has to be deducted in proportion. For count back on the last nine holes, half the handicap is applied, for the final six holes, a third of the handicap, and a sixth of the handicap for the last three holes.
Long live sudden death!
It’s all very clever, but I think a sudden death contest should determine the winner. Less counting, more golf!
Thanks for clarifying numbers were never my thing either!
What is the method , if any , for resolving stroke play ties, when there is a shotgun start from different holes?
According to my research, the rules of golf don’t dictate how to settle a tie in the situation, so the method is up to the committee. It can be last 9/6/3 holes or any others. Hope that helps!
my daughter played in a schools comp – 6 holes. scoring was 1 shot =10 pts , 2 =9pts , 3 =8 pts etc thus a maximum of 60points to be scored. all holes were played but in differing orders. 2 teams tied on points. how does countback work – if going off the score at the last hole , surely this is unfair as the difficulty of each team’s last hole was different ? anyone explain ….?!
There is no absolutely fair way to calculate this, and so it looks like countback normally starts from the last 9 holes, whatever the order they’re played in.
How to do a countback in mixed foursomes championship??
It looks like you would use the same method as you would for a medal/Stableford.
What if you play the back 9 first…. and the first 9 last ….is it the last 9 you played…?????
It seems that “The “stipulated round” consists of playing the holes of the course in their correct sequence, unless otherwise authorised by the Committee. The number of holes in a stipulated round is 18 unless a smaller number is authorised by the Committee.” So holes 10 to 18 would be used, regardless of the order in which the holes were played.
Countback is no better than a coin flip. For Pete’s sake if just prize money is involved just split the money. That’s what the pga does. Can you see a countback on tour where it costs some player thousands of dollars. NO!. Stupid way to break a tie. If two pliers shoot the same score the should both get the same amount…
100% agree with Bob – the countback system is inherently unfair and illogical. If 2 or more players have the same score, surely it should be the player who has achieved that score off the lowest handicap who should win.
The last stable ford comp I played, I was tied on 24 points with three other players. My handicap is 14, one lady was 38 and the other 42.
The gross scores on the back 9 were, me, 51, 62, 64.
I came 3rd, how is that possible?
It’s hard to tell without seeing the cards, but I would suggest that it was because it wasn’t the gross score that counted, but the Stableford points, which take handicaps into account.
In the event of a Stapleford count back stroke index is used to calculate the per hole score i.e
Par4 SI 2 4= 3pts, 5= 2pts etc.
With an odd numbered handicap in a stroke play countback why is just half the handicap taken and not the total shots received per SI. i.e handicap 15. Course stroke index = front 9 all odd, back 9 all even numbered., this would give a 15 handicap 8 shots front 9 and 7 back nine which in the event of a countback would mean 7 and not 7.5 shot reduction.